MRI-guided monitoring of thermal dose and targeted drug delivery for cancer therapy.

Application of localized hyperthermia treatment for solid tumor therapy is under active clinical investigation. The success of this treatment methodology, whether for tumor ablation or drug delivery, requires accurate target localization and real-time temperature mapping of the targeted region. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) can monitor temperature elevations in tissues in real-time during tumor therapy. MRI can also be applied in concert with methods such as High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) to enable image-guided drug delivery (IGDD) from temperature sensitive nanocarriers, by exploiting not only its anatomic resolution, but its ability to detect and measure drug release using markers co-loaded with drugs within the nanocarriers. We review this rapidly emerging technology, providing an overview of MRI-guided tissue thermal dose monitoring for HIFU and Laser therapy, its role in targeted drug delivery and its future potential for clinical translation.